This is what I eat typically day to day. Of course it changes every once in a while but this is what I had yesterday. I have been eating like this since jan. 8th and have lost 28 pounds. (I do 45 mins of a cardio video 5xs a week). Over the past month I have been having stalls and I have been on this stall for maybe two weeks, which after just having a few other small stalls this month, is irritating. Anyways I was just wanting too see if you ladies could maybe help decide if it's my eating habits causing these stalls.

I am 5'7" and 190 pounds


2 eggs, scrambled, with 1 slice fat free cheese (210 calories)
Strawberry smoothie (6 strawberries, 1 packet stevia, 1&1/2 tbsp 1% milk, 3 ice cubes) (I am assuming ~75 calories)

Regular oatmeal made with water, with 1 tbsp brown sugar, 1/4 cup 1% milk (~150 cals)

Morningstar chick'n nuggets (vegetarian chicken, I am not veg. I just like them) and 1 apple (275 cals)

String cheese (60 cals)

Salad with cheese (1/2 the serving size, croutons, baked chicken cut up, and [this is what I am worried is making me not lose] lens regular ranch dressing, I probably use a serving and a half which would be ~22 g of fat, but still in my calorie range) (350 cals)

Fat free sugar free pudding (75 cals)

Okay, I didn't measure the accuracy of your calorie counts, but when I added it up I'm getting ~1200.

You might not be eating enough! I know it seems counterproductive, but you might try eating a bit more calories for a while (1500-1600 or more) and seeing if that jumpstarts your loss.

You are not eating enough.

The answer is clear here, you are eating way under your calorie intake with the amount of working out you are doing. So now you're body is going into starvation mode causing your weight loss to stall. Up your calorie intake by using this site to figure it all out.

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

I put in some numbers by guessing your age, placed your height and your weight and the number of calories you SHOULD be eating are 1914 for fat loss. For extreme fatloss 1520. So up your calories, and you'll start seeing your weight drop again.

I don't really believe in starvation mode-in my opinion, that oatmeal and cheese and cheese would just give me water retention-not to the point where I feel achy but I would not see much of a budge in the scale. Not saying that your case is this drastic, but once I went on a carbo load-at 1000 cals worth of bread and went up 10 lbs! It took a week to "lose" it.
I would replace some of that cheese and croutons with more chicken and steamed vegetables - are you worried about the cals in the baked chicken? Is there a way that you can get steamed chicken or make it yourself so you know the cals? Once I cut out the store bought pre cooked chicken I lost weight because I started making it myself, I don't think the cals are as low as the supermarket would say lol.
Livestrong article says
"
Cheese and Meat
Most cheese and certain types of meat also are high in sodium. Regular and processed cheese, cottage cheese and cheese spreads all should have a small part in your diet when dealing with water retention. Processed meats including bacon, ham, sausage, bologna and lunch meats all contain large amounts of sodium, as does canned meat and fish unless specifically labeled as low sodium.



Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/87...#ixzz1qERw4H70
At your height/weight it is likely that you can eat more and continue to lose, but I don't think at 1200 cal plan will keep you from losing either.
Also, this stall could be due to water retention because of the high calorie deficit. If that is the case you can try eating more and seeing if you lose that water weight or just wait it out for a woosh (but I also recommend changing up what you eat to also help with water retention)

Starvation mode is a myth.

There is a lot of processed cheese/dairy/meat product in your diet. Both of these have a lot of sodium.

Try adding some more fresh veg. elsewhere in the day. And you could eat a LOT of whole food for the calories in that dressing!

I am not intentionally trying the 'starvation mode diet', I guess I didn't realize I wasn't eating enough.

As far as the chicken, I am not worried about the calories in the chicken. I cut up a 4 oz chicken and use the whole thing for the salad. I just love croutons, and at 30 calories a serving I thought it was okay.

Thanks for your replies.

How are you feeling?

Are you listless? Are your workouts getting worse and less productive rather than better with more calories burned? If so, it's probably related to your diet in some way; maybe you should consider reducing your carbohydrate intake in exchange for a few more calories from fat?

If you feel amazing and full of energy, then yeah it's probably salt causing water retention and you aren't nearly as sensitive to carbs as I am, lucky duck

I agree with others when they say you're not eating enough. If you're exercising your body needs fuel. Perhaps you're also eating too much cheese? I'm 5'5" and I eat around 1500-1700 a day and it's worked so far.

I also just want to say what others have -- you're likely retaining water from eating too many carbs and too much salt. I'd suggest adding more lean, fresh meat (not frozen or packaged) and substituting low fat Greek yogurt or low fat milk for some of the cheese, so you still get enough calcium.

I feel great, I have plenty of energy and my workouts have steadily gotten more productive the more I am strengthening my body. I am not worried about my energy level in the least, thankfully.

Thanks for all the replies, I didn't realize how cheesy my diet was until I typed it out! Ill use all your tips and up my calorie intake, thanks for everything ladies.

I don't know if it is true, but I saw it in myself—I think sometimes your metabolism needs a kick in the rear to get it going. Increasing your calories can sometimes do that. This is why some people have certain days where they eat a lot and then return to their lower counts immediately.

When I hit 125 I upped my calories to around 1600, thinking I would need that to maintain (LOL NO). Instead I lost weight EVEN FASTER. I also had even more energy than I did before (and I had lots of energy on 1200-1500cals!).

Right now I'm eating 2000+ a day of healthy stuff, feel great and I have a lot of energy. 3 times a week I would need a nap when I got home from work in the afternoon, I don't need any more naps now.

I know it's strange and scary to suddenly eat more and you'll wrestle with your mind a bit, but after a while you'll hopefully see some results

This. "Starvation mode" is very exaggerated myth. The carbs and sodium are probably bumping up your water retention.

I think you are eating MORE than you realize. There was A LOT of guesstimation in there.... ALOT... especially on higher cal foods like the RANCH, oatmeal, croutons, cheese, etc. Id bet my next paycheck that if you actually WEIGHED everything you put in your mouth, on a digital scale, youd find your counts are off by prob HUNDREDS of cals a day.
And the sodium has nothing to do with it. if your body is used to eating that much sodium, then it wont affect anything...,...it doenst affect fat loss at all, anyway. When people run into issues with sodium retention it is because they RESTRICT sodium too much, and then when they do eat it, their electrolytes are so out of whack it causes fluid (WATER) retention.

Here's one other angle to consider: Weight loss just isn't linear. Stalls and whooshes can be very normal. You may have not seen that in the beginning, because in the beginning weight drops more quickly/tends to be water-related - but it sounds like you've seen that more this past month. It sounds to me like you're due for a whoosh, soon.

I get impatient with the scale a lot, especially after 2-3 weeks of staying at one number when I -know- I've created deficits. It's a struggle to stay patient. Knowing objectively that my body loves the stall/whoosh pattern doesn't actually decrease my frustration feeling sometimes. But the scale does what it wants, on its own time frame, and no amount of angst is going to alter it.

Not saying you shouldn't experiment and tinker with what's working best for you, just that you may have hit on a new pattern for how your weight loss shows up on the scale.